The iWaWa Study

Welcome and thank you for your interest in testing iWawa - an online program for mums who feel anxious or worried in the 1st year after childbirth.

About Us

 

Get to know the researchers involved for the iWaWa study.

 

The iWaWa study is part of Miriam T. Ashford’s PhD project, which is supervised by Prof Susan Ayers and Dr Ellinor Olander at the Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research (School of Health Sciences) at City, University of London.

WaWa has been researched and written by Dr Heather Rowe & Prof Jane Fisher from Monash University. TheWaWa booklet version was found to be acceptable, safe, stigma free, feasible, and demonstrated preliminary efficacy in a pilot study (Rowe, et al., 2014).

In collaboration with Heather Rowe & Jane Fisher, Miriam T. Ashford and her supervisors have developed an online version of WaWa, named iWaWa, which will be tested in this study. For more information about the study, click here.

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Main researcher responsible for the iWaWa study:

Pic_MiriamMiriam T. Ashford, MSc, BSc
PhD Student Health Psychology
My current research interests include perinatal mental health disorders and the usage of technology in treating mental health issues. My PhD research aims to develop and evaluate a web-based intervention for women with postpartum anxiety. I am also interested in both the views of women with postpartum anxiety and health care professionals working with women during the postpartum period on web-based mental health interventions.

 

Supervisors:
Prof Susan Ayers
Professor of Maternal and Child Health
Susan is a psychologist specialising in perinatal mental health and leads the Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research. Susan is a chartered health psychologist and cognitive behaviour therapist. Her research examines women’s mental health during pregnancy and after birth, with a particular focus on anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr Ellinor Olander
Lecturer in Maternal and Child Health
Ellinor’s research focuses on obesity related issues such as why obese individuals decline weight management services and how to develop evidence-based, feasible and acceptable services for obese pregnant women.

 

Collaborators:
Dr Heather Rowe
Senior Research Fellow – Jean Hailes Research Unit
Monash University

Prof Jane Fisher
Jean Hailes Professor of Women’s Health and Director Jean Hailes Research Unit
Monash University

 

References:

City, University of London. Website-based self-help for women With anxiety after childbirth. In: ClinicalTrials.gov [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US). 2015- [cited 2015 June 06]. Available from: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02434406 NLM Identifier: NCT02434406.

Rowe, H. J., Calcagni, S. C., Galgut, S., Michelmore, J., & Fisher, J. R. W. (2014). Self-management of mild to moderate anxiety in women who have recently given birth: Development and acceptability of a theoretically sound complex intervention. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 16(5), 308–319. doi:10.1080/14623730.2014.964050

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